The Greatest Man I Never Knew
by minerva's-kitten
Summary: For the first time in twenty some odd years…I smiled a true smile and let a few tears streak down my porcelain skin. Perhaps I did know after all. ADMM


**The bold italics is the song. The plain writing is the girl thinking to herself, and the italics are Minerva's thoughts.**

**AN: I own nothing sadly and this is all in boredom.**

**This is a sad story and the Song....'The Greatest Man I Never Knew' is sung by Reba McEntire.**

**The Greatest Man I Never Knew**

_**The greatest man I never knew**_

_**Lived just down the hall**_

He lived but ten feet down the hall. His robes swished behind him as he past to his office. I stood there with my frizzy curls rubbing sleep from my eyes. He looked down and gave a nod and I nodded in return.

_**And everyday we said hello**_

_**But never touched at all**_

"Hello father," I replied like every morning.

"Good morning Odette," He replied as usual.

"You mother is awake."

I smiled shyly…or maybe in fear before sprinting down the hall. I was nine and he was a hundred and nine. We had nothing in common and never once did he hug me.

_**He was in his paper**_

_**I was in my room**_

When he was home his wife sat by him reading a novel while he sat reading the paper. I was always locked away in my room. I studied and read but was the best Seeker in years.

_**How was I to know he thought I hung the moon**_

_Minerva looked sadly on the sight as she saw her beloved husband kiss their sleeping child. Odette believed she was not loved by him……the truth was…Albus could never love anything more than that brilliant little Ravenclaw._

_**The greatest man I never knew**_

_**Came home late every night**_

_**He never had too much to say **_

_**Too much was on his mind**_

_**I never really knew him**_

_**Oh and now it seems so sad**_

I saw him coming home late every night. With the war going on behind everyone's back he had too much on his mind to care that he had missed a Quidditch game or piano recital.

Looking back now it all seems so sad. I never knew him and he never knew me. We were strangers who just happened to be related.

_**Everything he gave to us took all he had**_

_Minerva looked on in sadness as she saw her husband working so tirelessly. If Odette only knew what he gave up to keep his family safe…maybe she would be so bitter._

_**Then the days turned into years**_

_**And the memories to black and white**_

_**He grew cold like an old winter wind**_

_**Blowing across my life**_

As life moved on so the years rolled by. I barely spoke to him and he never spoke to me. He grew cold and we communicated solely through my mother. The memories we shared were so few and far between that they were like whispers of wind in my ear and eyes.

_**The greatest words I never heard**_

_**I guess I'll never hear**_

I've lived forty years and never once heard the most treasured words uttered by the man I loved first…and now it's all too late.

_**The man I thought would never die**_

_**Has been dead almost a year**_

It's been a year since father died and now peace rains again. Voldemort is dead and Harry is the hero once more.

Today on the Anniversary of his Death; Mother and I stand before his tomb with roses in our hands.

_**He was good in business**_

_**But there was business left to do**_

_**He never said he loved me**_

"He was there for the world…he kept Harry going…but never once did he try to comfort me," I sighed adjusting my half moon shaped glasses.

"You had me. He knew you were safe and that's what mattered most. You were the twinkle in those blue eyes you know," mother says quietly, "Every night since you were born he's spent hours just holding or staring at you when you slept. He was so proud of you."

"He never said he loved me," I replied.

_**Guess he thought I knew**_

_**"**_He thought you knew," Mother replied.

She placed her rose on the tomb and I placed mine. And as I turned to make the trek back up to the school the wind blew my ebony curls from its confines and I heard a voice whisper on my ear, "I love you kitten."

For the first time in twenty some odd years…I smiled a true smile and let a few tears streak down my porcelain skin.

Perhaps I did know after all.

THE END


End file.
